Severance Agreement Lawyer in San Diego, CA Terms, Releases and Deadlines

What the document is actually buying

A severance agreement trades money for a release. Everything else in it, confidentiality, non-disparagement, cooperation, return of property, references, and a no-rehire clause, adjusts the price of that trade. So the first question is never whether the amount sounds generous. It is what claims disappear when the signature lands, and what obligations you carry afterward.

Read the release definition itself with care. A broad release typically reaches wage claims, discrimination and retaliation claims, contract claims, and anything arising from the employment relationship. Carve-outs, where they exist, usually cover unemployment benefits, workers' compensation, vested retirement money, and the right to speak to a government agency.

Five business days is a statute, not a favor

California puts a floor under the review period. Government Code 12964.5(b)(4) requires an employer offering a separation agreement to notify the employee of the right to consult an attorney and to provide a reasonable period of not less than five business days to do so. Signing sooner is allowed only where the decision is knowing and voluntary and was not induced by pressure, misrepresentation, or a threat to pull the offer (Gov. Code 12964.5).

The same section limits what the paper may contain. Subdivision (b)(1)(A) makes it an unlawful employment practice to include a provision prohibiting disclosure of information about unlawful acts in the workplace. A confidentiality clause drafted to bury a harassment complaint is not merely aggressive; it collides with the statute.

Workers 40 and older get two more clocks

Federal age discrimination law adds structure that many employers copy imperfectly. A waiver of age claims must give at least 21 days to consider the agreement, or at least 45 days where the waiver is requested as part of an exit incentive or termination program offered to a group. It must allow at least 7 days after signing to revoke, and it does not become effective until that revocation period expires (29 U.S.C. 626(f)).

Group layoffs carry a disclosure obligation that rewards close reading. The employer must provide the job titles and ages of everyone eligible or selected for the program, plus the ages of those in the same classification or unit who were not selected. That table is sometimes the clearest evidence available about how a reduction in force actually chose people. If the waiver's validity is disputed, the burden of proving it was knowing and voluntary sits with the employer.

The paragraph in capital letters

Somewhere near the release sits a block quoting Civil Code 1542. That section provides that a general release does not extend to claims the releasing party does not know or suspect to exist and that would have materially affected the settlement (Civil Code 1542). The quoted text is followed by an express waiver of it. That waiver is the point of the paragraph: it sweeps in claims nobody has identified yet, including ones you might discover after the file is produced.

The deadlines the agreement does not mention

An employer's response date has nothing to do with the state's administrative calendar. A discrimination or retaliation claim still requires an intake filing with the Civil Rights Department within three years of the last harm, and a right-to-sue notice starts a separate one-year window for suit (CRD complaint process). Federal claims run on the 300-day charge deadline and, after a notice of right to sue, 90 days (EEOC).

Two Labor Code deadlines belong on the same page of your notes. Final wages including accrued vacation are due immediately on discharge, with the waiting time penalty running up to 30 calendar days of pay when they are late (DLSE). And a written request for the personnel file obliges production within 30 calendar days, extendable to 35 by agreement, carrying a $750 penalty, with the inspection right suspended once a related suit is filed (Labor Code 1198.5). Asking before signing is far easier than asking afterward.

What the money is measured against

Severance is not owed by statute, so its value is judged against the claims being released. Where a departure follows a protected complaint, a leave request, or a wage dispute, the release is worth more to the employer than a routine restructuring release, and the analysis should reflect that. A separation from a defense contractor or hospital system may also involve clearance paperwork, an ethics file, restricted stock, commission plan terms, or a bonus that vested days after the last day of work.

How this work is paid for

Review of a severance document is ordinarily hourly rather than contingent, because nothing is being recovered yet. California requires a written contract where the total expense to the client is reasonably foreseeable to exceed $1,000, so most engagements of this kind are documented in writing from the start. If the review turns up a viable claim, the fee structure can change, and FEHA's fee-shifting provision then becomes part of the calculation instead of a percentage cap that does not exist.